Strategic thinking within the starfox games

[LucasJG19]

This is a personal opinoin on what i'm hoping for within the Starfox games to come.

 

Please feel free to say what's on your mind to this subject.

 

What if a new Starfox game was released with a new added type of gameplay where you make the strategies for the situations that Fox gets into, like for example. You get to decide who flys the Arwing or who rides the land master, or you can have the whole Starfox team be placed on foot, plus you can place them at strategice points. I mean in Starfox Assault, you would hear Fox speak his strategy of how to handle the situation and you would play through it.

 

But now after you have set up your team. You get to see your strategy in action as you progress through the level. To illustrate, just say you are faced with a gigantic robot, and you placed Krystal who shoots a rocket launcher to cover you from above. As soon as the robot attacks you she fires her missile making the robot fall though the floor which caves in from the blast. Something like that kind of strategy I am hoping for

 

So i thought that i should bring this topic into the open to see how you guys think about it. 

[Drasiana]

Yeah, I like that idea a lot. Star Fox is something that could benefit from a lot of the more RPG-y elements like this, with the whole team system and everything.

[Ala1n-J]

Strategic gameplay in a Starfox game? Count me in. I Iiked the RTS aspect of Starfox2 with enemies moving while you were flying or fighting, so you had to make choices in what enemy to eleminate first. Command and its turn based strategy was interesting too, but got ruined by repetitive maps and dogfights, weird mechanics (starfighters unable to fly over a mountain) and the fact that one piloted the arwing with the stylus in dogfights, making these parts frustrating.

I know this leans towards the "New starfox game speculations and ideas" topic, but this topic gives me ideas. I guess one interesting idea would be to have multiple pilots available (Fox, Falco, Peppy, Slippy, Krystal, Miyu and Fay as regular; Fara, Bill and Katt as unlockables for multiplayer mode and/or temporary available in parts of single player mode), and before each mission, you get to choose 4 of them to create your squadron, playing on each pilot's strengths depending of the mission (space dogfight, cruiser attack, atmospheric dogfight, base defense, air-to-ground assault, ground operation, etc). The idea of deploying the squadron wherever you want in the map is also a cool idea.

To make things more interesting, each pilot could have a special ability. Dogfight units are built as such : two teams of two fighters, one as team's leader and one as wingman. When chossing your pilots, you could, as Fox, choose your personal wingman for the mission and get to use that pilot's ability in the mission (Slippy could show enemies' life bars or make yours refill itself, Krystal could help with maps and environmant or reveal hidden enemies, etc). Either that or you get to play as whoever you like to use said abilities. And of course using the command system like in StarWars Rogue Squadron, and using ship customization and everything. Just ideas, one'd need to balance all of this out.

So, yeah, very interesting idea, LucasJG19! As Dras said, Starfox could use some RPG and strategy elements to make its gameplay evolve. This would also be a cool opportunity to use the WiiU tablet pad, for deployment, orders and more. Except for flying in a dogfight by moving your finger on the tablet, let's keep the cursor and buttons for that.

[LucasJG19]

Strategic gameplay in a Starfox game? Count me in. I Iiked the RTS aspect of Starfox2 with enemies moving while you were flying or fighting, so you had to make choices in what enemy to eleminate first. Command and its turn based strategy was interesting too, but got ruined by repetitive maps and dogfights, weird mechanics (starfighters unable to fly over a mountain) and the fact that one piloted the arwing with the stylus in dogfights, making these parts frustrating.

I know this leans towards the "New starfox game speculations and ideas" topic, but this topic gives me ideas. I guess one interesting idea would be to have multiple pilots available (Fox, Falco, Peppy, Slippy, Krystal, Miyu and Fay as regular; Fara, Bill and Katt as unlockables for multiplayer mode and/or temporary available in parts of single player mode), and before each mission, you get to choose 4 of them to create your squadron, playing on each pilot's strengths depending of the mission (space dogfight, cruiser attack, atmospheric dogfight, base defense, air-to-ground assault, ground operation, etc). The idea of deploying the squadron wherever you want in the map is also a cool idea.

To make things more interesting, each pilot could have a special ability. Dogfight units are built as such : two teams of two fighters, one as team's leader and one as wingman. When chossing your pilots, you could, as Fox, choose your personal wingman for the mission and get to use that pilot's ability in the mission (Slippy could show enemies' life bars or make yours refill itself, Krystal could help with maps and environmant or reveal hidden enemies, etc). Either that or you get to play as whoever you like to use said abilities. And of course using the command system like in StarWars Rogue Squadron, and using ship customization and everything. Just ideas, one'd need to balance all of this out.

So, yeah, very interesting idea, LucasJG19! As Dras said, Starfox could use some RPG and strategy elements to make its gameplay evolve. This would also be a cool opportunity to use the WiiU tablet pad, for deployment, orders and more. Except for flying in a dogfight by moving your finger on the tablet, let's keep the cursor and buttons for that.

Very interesting ideas you have there Ala1n-J. But concerning the character deployments, i was actually thinking that instead of controlling your backup team with a single button, you have to set them at a specific place where when you reach that part of the level your teammates help you with their special ability like you just mentioned. So in this aspect, if you put the wrong weapon at a specific place then the level will become more harder to accomplish. This can increase the difficulty of the game so that it becomes more challenging. 

These are just some ideas that i wanted to express

[Ala1n-J]

Very interesting ideas you have there Ala1n-J. But concerning the character deployments, i was actually thinking that instead of controlling your backup team with a single button, you have to set them at a specific place where when you reach that part of the level your teammates help you with their special ability like you just mentioned. So in this aspect, if you put the wrong weapon at a specific place then the level will become more harder to accomplish. This can increase the difficulty of the game so that it becomes more challenging. 

These are just some ideas that i wanted to express

 

Ok, I see what you mean (at least I think). But this sounds like it'd be suitable for on-foot sections, not dogfights, where enemies constantly move around (unless it's an on-rail stage, but would on-rail stages mute the interest of a strategy gameplay?) and, depending of the difficulty, can adopt different tactics to counter your strategy. Also, say that you've got one pilot with a vital ability, but he or she is being chased by the enemy and is taking a lot of damage. You are stuck with another enemy or objective, or you're too far away to help him or her before getting shot down. Calling another teammate for assistance or calling pilot in danger to retreat than calling him/her back after you took care of the menace could save your pilot and his/her ability.

Generally, even though games cannot get past a certain level of scripted mechanics and that strategically deploying your teammates plays a lot in the mission's success, things can still go wrong when the fight happens. And if victory relies just on deploying pilots at certain points with the right weapons, then all that'd be needed would be to click on some "Do automatic fight" button without the player actually fighting. The strategic deployment is a cool idea, but you also need to control you teammates during the mission in order to be more flexible and to adapt yourself if something goes wrong and if you need to change the plan.

Edit : Starfox "Dogfights"... What do you think as for a new Starfox game title?

Edited April 3, 2014 by Ala1n-J

[LucasJG19]

Ok, I see what you mean (at least I think). But this sounds like it'd be suitable for on-foot sections, not dogfights, where enemies constantly move around and, depending of the difficulty, can adopt different tactics to counter your strategy. Also, say that you've got one pilot with a vital ability, but he or she is being chased by the enemy and is taking a lot of damage. You are stuck with another enemy or objective, or you're too far away to help him or her before getting shot down. Calling another teammate for assistance or calling pilot in danger to retreat than calling him/her back after you took care of the menace could save your pilot and his/her ability.

Generally, even though games cannot get past a certain level of scripted mechanics and that strategically deploying your teammates plays a lot in the mission's success, things can still go wrong when the fight happens. And if victory relies just on deploying pilots at certain points with the right weapons, then all that'd be needed would be to click on some "Do automatic fight" button without the player actually fighting. The strategic deployment is a cool idea, but you also need to control you teammates during the mission in order to be more flexible and to adapt yourself if something goes wrong and if you need to change the plan.

That's where you make your own strategy within the game. This is what i'm trying to express, that you adapt to the situation. Like that example you gave. If you backup character is being chased or you are too far, you now need to make the decission  if you want to go alone, or should you regroup with the team. Or you can make a plan that if your opponent is chasing your backup unit you can have that unit come into the fight at a later time. There is always a way to counterattack a computer's algorytim. This can also create unexpected excitement within the game making it more enjoyable for people of all sorts, including old people too.

[Ala1n-J]

That's where you make your own strategy within the game. This is what i'm trying to express, that you adapt to the situation. Like that example you gave. If you backup character is being chased or you are too far, you now need to make the decission  if you want to go alone, or should you regroup with the team. Or you can make a plan that if your opponent is chasing your backup unit you can have that unit come into the fight at a later time. There is always a way to counterattack a computer's algorytim. This can also create unexpected excitement within the game making it more enjoyable for people of all sorts, including old people too.

 

Ah ok, then we're kind of in the same frequency so to speak. The way you previously introduced your idea made me think of a tabletop game like GameWorkshop's but scripted, without the element of luck or ramdomness. Like, the strategy before the action took so much part of the gameplay that there isn't much left after. I agree that there is always a way to counterattack a computer's algorithm, but there is no fun if it can already be completely nullified before the fight even started. Preparing some pilots to replace those out of combat? Sounds cool. Scripting the tactics to the point you task someone to help another pilot before the fight? Maybe not, that'd be too much preparative strategy IMO. We need a bit of random and unexpected to make the game enjoyable.

[LucasJG19]

Ah ok, then we're kind of in the same frequency so to speak. The way you previously introduced your idea made me think of a tabletop game like GameWorkshop's but scripted, without the element of luck or ramdomness. Like, the strategy before the action took so much part of the gameplay that there isn't much left after. I agree that there is always a way to counterattack a computer's algorithm, but there is no fun if it can already be completely nullified before the fight even started. Preparing some pilots to replace those out of combat? Sounds cool. Scripting the tactics to the point you task someone to help another pilot before the fight? Maybe not, that'd be too much preparative strategy IMO. We need a bit of random and unexpected to make the game enjoyable.

I completely agree with your idea. But i wasn't actually saying to nulify the computer before it starts fight, just saying that as the computer get's harder as the game progresses, the same tactic you might of used before won't always work.

[Ala1n-J]

I completely agree with your idea. But i wasn't actually saying to nulify the computer before it starts fight, just saying that as the computer get's harder as the game progresses, the same tactic you might of used before won't always work.

 

I also agree with you on that. Guess there was a bit of misunderstanding at first, but all things considered, we mostly agree on the same thing.

[LucasJG19]

I also agree with you on that. Guess there was a bit of misunderstanding at first, but all things considered, we mostly agree on the same thing.

thanks for your ideas too